Closing arguments on Rajaratnam trial today

NEW YORK: After six weeks of presenting evidence, the prosecution and the defence will today make closing arguments in the trial of Galleon Group founder Raj Rajaratnam's case.

Rajaratnam, the main accused in the largest hedge fund insider trading case in US history, is accused of making USD 63.8 million illicitly from confidential information.

The defence lawyers, who have argued that Rajaratnam traded on publicly available information and not on insider tips, presented the jury with analyst reports and press clippings that similar content as the alleged tips.

The prosecution has played secretly recorded phone conversations between Rajaratnam and his alleged sources discussing plans and earnings of different companies and banks.

Rajaratnam, 53, who has been charged with 14 counts of securities fraud and conspiracy, denies wrongdoing.

If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prisons. Out of the 26 people arrested in the case, 19 have pleaded guilty.

Rajaratnam did not take the stand in his own defense at the trial.

Two Indian-Americans - Anil Kumar, a former director McKinsey & Co, and Rajiv Goel, a former executive at Intel Inc., have pleaded guilty and they testified against Rajaratnam.

Kumar told the jury that he provided confidential information to Rajaratnam on a "super-confidential" deal involving the acquisition of ATI Technologies Inc., a graphic design company, by Advanced Micro Devices Inc.(AMD), a microchip-processing company.

The prosecution played a recording in which Goel told Rajaratnam that Intel was planning to make a USD 1 billion investment in a new joint venture with Clearwire and others to develop an ultra-fast wireless Internet service.

A third Indian-American, Rajat Gupta, has not been charged in the criminal case but faces civil charges from the Securities and Exchange Commission for passing confidential information to Rajaratnam.